Automatic threading of conversations based on content and interactions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10601753-B2
Application number	US-201715479109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2017
Priority date	Apr 4, 2017
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising identifying, in a first thread comprising a plurality of messages outputted for display on a display device, a first concept in a text of a first message of the plurality of messages, identifying a second concept in a text of a second message of the plurality of messages of the first thread, upon determining that the second concept is different than the first concept, generating a second thread comprising a subset of the plurality of messages, wherein each message in the subset of the plurality of message is related to the second concept, and outputting, based on a set of user preferences, the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread for display on the display device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
identifying, in a first thread comprising a plurality of messages outputted for display on a display device, a first concept in a text of a first message of the plurality of messages;
identifying a second concept in a text of a second message of the plurality of messages of the first thread using natural language processing to determine a user intention to discuss the second concept;
upon determining that the second concept is different than the first concept, creating a second thread, without user request, comprising a subset of the plurality of messages, wherein each message in the subset of the plurality of message is related to the second concept;
outputting, based on a set of user preferences, the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread for display on the display device; and
upon identifying a concluding indicator in the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread:
closing the second thread based on the identification of the concluding indicator,
generating a summary for the second thread, and
outputting the first thread and the summary for the second thread for display on the display device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of user preferences specify:
(i) a preferred font, (ii) a preferred font style, and (iii) a preferred object for outputting the second thread, wherein the preferred object comprises one of: (i) a new browser window, (ii) a new browser tab, and (iii) a first browser tab, wherein the first thread is outputted in the first browser tab.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the set of user preferences further specify: (i) a set of preferred users, and (ii) a set of blocked users, wherein each message of the plurality of messages generated by a user in the set of preferred users is outputted for display on the display device, wherein each message in the plurality of messages generated by a user in the set of blocked users is restricted from being outputted for display on the display device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the set of user preferences of a first user specifies a second user as a member of the set of blocked users, the method further comprising:
monitoring a plurality of messages generated by the second user;
determining that a count of the plurality of messages generated by the second user receiving positive feedback from a plurality of other users exceeds a threshold;
outputting, to the first user, an indication to remove the second user from the set of blocked users based on the positive feedback; and
responsive to receiving input from the first user specifying to remove the second user from the set of blocked users, updating the user profile of the first user to remove the second user from the set of blocked users.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein plurality of messages of the first thread are associated with a first universally unique identifier (UUID), wherein generating the second thread further comprises associating the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread with a second UUID, different than the first UUID.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
closing the second thread upon determining that a consensus has been reached among users to end the second thread.

7. A computer program product, comprising:
a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code executable by a processor to perform an operation comprising:
identifying, in a first thread comprising a plurality of messages outputted for display on a display device, a first concept in a text of a first message of the plurality of messages;
identifying a second concept in a text of a second message of the plurality of messages of the first thread using natural language processing to determine a user intention to discuss the second concept;
upon determining that the second concept is different than the first concept, creating a second thread, without user request, comprising a subset of the plurality of messages, wherein each message in the subset of the plurality of message is related to the second concept;
outputting, based on a set of user preferences, the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread for display on the display device; and
upon identifying a concluding indicator in the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread:
closing the second thread based on the identification of the concluding indicator,
generating a summary for the second thread, and
outputting the first thread and the summary for the second thread for display on the display device.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the set of user preferences specify: (i) a preferred font, (ii) a preferred font style, and (iii) a preferred object for outputting the second thread, wherein the preferred object comprises one of: (i) a new browser window, (ii) a new browser tab, and (iii) a first browser tab, wherein the first thread is outputted in the first browser tab.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the set of user preferences further specify: (i) a set of preferred users, and (ii) a set of blocked users, wherein each message of the plurality of messages generated by a user in the set of preferred users is outputted for display on the display device, wherein each message in the plurality of messages generated by a user in the set of blocked users is restricted from being outputted for display on the display device.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the set of user preferences of a first user specifies a second user as a member of the set of blocked users, the operation further comprising:
monitoring a plurality of messages generated by the second user;
determining that a count of the plurality of messages generated by the second user receiving positive feedback from a plurality of other users exceeds a threshold;
outputting, to the first user, an indication to remove the second user from the set of blocked users based on the positive feedback; and
responsive to receiving input from the first user specifying to remove the second user from the set of blocked users, updating the user profile of the first user to remove the second user from the set of blocked users.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , the operation further comprising:
analyzing a text of each of a plurality of messages of a plurality of threads;
classifying, based on the analysis, a first set of terms as indicating formation of a new thread; and
classifying, based on the analysis, a second set of terms as indicating closing of an existing thread.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein plurality of messages of the first thread are associated with a first universally unique identifier (UUID), wherein generating the second thread further comprises associating the subset of the plurality of messages of the second thread with a second UUID, different than the first UUID.

13. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing one or more instructions which, when executed by the processor, performs an operation comprising:
identifying, in a first thread comprising a plurality of messages outputted for display on a display device, a first concept in a text of a first message of the plurality of messages;
identifying a second concept in a text of a second message of the plurality of messages of the first thread using natural language processing to determine a user intention to discuss the second concept;
upon determining that the second concept is different than the first concept, creating a second thread,

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Draeger David R
• Wolpert Craig R

Classifications

• H04L51/04

  Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] · CPC title

• H04L51/16 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/12

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/216 Primary

  Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads · CPC title

• H04L51/212

  using filtering or selective blocking · CPC title